Officials report 99th COVID-19 death
Jan. 28—The 99th death from COVID-19 was reported in Whitman County this week, according to figures posted on the Washington State Department of Health website.
No other details about the person who died were provided. The virus death is the first in Whitman County since mid-October.
Whitman County also added 34 new infections this past week, while Latah County had seven.
The Palouse has seen a total of 152 deaths from COVID-19 since the virus first appeared in the region in March 2020.
South of the Palouse in Lewis County, the death of a girl who was between the ages of 5 and 12 was linked to COVID-19, according to information provided Friday by the Public Health — Idaho North Central District.
No other details about the girl were announced.
The girl is the youngest person in the five-county region of north central Idaho to have their death linked to COVID-19 since the virus first appeared in the region, according to statistics on the public health website.
Mike Larson, a public health nurse, said the health department was only informed that the girl's death certificate shows her death was either caused by or linked to COVID-19. She could have potentially had other underlying health conditions, Larson said.
"We don't know if (COVID-19) is a primary or contributing factor," Larson said.
"This is incredibly unfortunate and tragic," he added, "but it's also a reminder that COVID is still out there in our community and we need to continue doing the right things to protected ourselves and loved ones from it."
